WHAT should have been a routine visit to Maxfield Park Health Centre to receive their family planning-related treatment last Friday turned out to be an emotional and excitement-filled visit for patients, thanks to health-care workers who welcomed them with an early Mother’s Day celebration.

“This morning when I came here I was sort of feeling down. I came to do an assessment and saw the event, I was filled with joy; I felt appreciated. Sometimes mothers are underrated by some people but at Maxfield clinic I truly believe that mothers are rated, not just for Mother’s Day, but overall. You come to clinic, the nurses treat you well and the doctors are always there to attend to you,” Janessa Cunningham told the Jamaica Observer following the session.

Highlighting the challenges faced at times as a mother, she added that the initiative served to re-energise her by boosting her self-confidence and lifting her spirit.

“Motherhood is hard sometimes, but pushing forward every day, getting talks from doctors and nurses saying, ‘Keep pushing forward, don’t give up,’ it brings a joy in me to still be a mother, to be there for a child, to push forward, to be great in life,” the 21-year-old said.

Cunningham’s sentiments were echoed by another patient, Keneisha Ennis, who said she was not expecting the celebration.

“This was a surprise. I felt really good, so excited and shocked. It’s a good look for me, because it’s the first time I am seeing something like this. Motherhood is very rough at times; sometimes I feel frustrated, I feel like giving up,” she lamented.

Jheanell Condappa, a midwife at the health centre and the visionary behind the initiative, told the Sunday Observer that Friday’s event was the second staging.

“At the Maxfield Park Health Centre we have a pre-Mother’s Day treat for all our family planning patients. We started it last year, but it’s not the same patients. There’s nobody [here] today [Friday] that was here last year so it is good to know that it’s different persons experiencing something for the first time.

“It was a surprise because we made them stay outside, we set up the area, and then we ushered everybody in, so when they came in they were all surprised. We gave them little tokens but also some empowering sessions,” she said.

Condappa explained that the event was held under the theme ‘I celebrate me’, serving as an empowering message to mothers who are sometimes overlooked or left to grapple with feelings of unworthiness.

“The session was really empowering them to not wait on anyone to celebrate them. We’re going to start celebrating ourselves. We’re going to love ourselves. We’re not waiting for validation, we’re going to value ourselves and know that what we’re doing is worthy.

“So even though we are here to provide health care, we’re looking at a holistic approach because an empowered woman is a great woman…once you’re empowered you will make better choices, so that is the aim of this session — not only just to say, ‘Okay, happy Mother’s Day’ but to empower women,” said Condappa.

She said, too, that despite the annual recognition of Mother’s Day, many mothers visiting the health centre have never been celebrated.

“One person cried because she has never gotten anything before. You’d think that at some point, a mother must get something but they don’t always get anything, or even just the words spoken, ‘Happy Mother’s Day.’ We had two other patients…one in particular, today [Friday] is her first time coming here…she’s never had this before. Today [Friday] made her feel extra special,” Condappa recounted.

She added that during her 19 years of service as a health-care worker a major realisation for her has been the number of mothers who struggle with self-acceptance and, as such, tend to seek validation from partners and family members.

“I’ve seen a lot of teenage mothers, or young mothers, they don’t feel worthy. So, even though we have our sessions and we’ll be talking to them and telling them they are doing a good job, we do realise that they’re still seeking that external validation,” she said.

In the meantime, Condappa reminded that mothers should be encouraged that “life is not about rearing children, it’s about living too”, arguing that many women are forced to believe that life is centred around parenting.

“You see a woman, she might appear bitter and miserable because she never lived. So, I believe that I’’m getting opportunities to meet these patients younger or sometimes middle age, I want to encourage them that they have to know when they are done having children and then they can live.

“Go on the trips, go to Panama, go to Dominica Republic, explore Jamaica. Tourists come here to explore; a lot of us have never gone more than two parishes and we have 14. It’s like I want to re-culture them to know that we should live, too. And in living, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune,” she said.

Mothers being celebrated at the Maxfield Park Health Centre on Friday.

Mothers Keneisha Ennis (left) and Janessa Cunningham flank Registered Midwife Manager Jheanell Condappa at the Maxfield Park Health Centre last Friday during a session that recognised mothers ahead of Mother’s Day.